Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons: Fire and Ice
by WritingBookworm
Summary: [Jarida Week 2014] Merida did not expect Jack to tell her that she was needed to help save the world. Jack did not expect Merida to be so hotheaded. Neither of them expected falling for each other.
1. Day 1: Dreams

**A/N: Hey guys, happy Jarida Week!**

**Really quickly, let me clear something up about this-instead of it being a compliation of oneshots like I usually do for this kind of thing, my Jarida Week entries are going to have an overarcing storh. So it more or less does have a standard Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons plot, but with a very heavy emphasis on Jarida, of course.**

**And please, bear with me if some entries aren't immediately posted, because Jarida Week and Jerza Week (for all Fairy Tail fans) _are on the same week. _So if I have difficulty getting some stuff out. . . Well, that's why.**

**But I've talked enough. Enjoy my first contribution to Jarida Week!**

* * *

1 - Dreams

Her bright red curls were flung in the air as she ran, and she barely caught herself from tripping over her dress. Finally the young Merida pounced on the blue wisp, like a cat upon finding a tasty mouse, only for it to abruptly vanish.

But Merida was not deterred. She jerked her head up, spotted another wisp just around a corner in the trail, and sprinted towards it. When she had come to it, she reached down and tried to snatch it-

All it did was dissipate with an ethereal whisper.

She huffed in annoyance. She was tired from running, and her dress was dirty. But the will-o'-the-wisps were supposed to lead her to her destiny, right?

So she began running again. She could see a wisp just up ahead, and another wisp after that, and then another hiding behind a tree-

She slowed to a stop when, instead of a wisp, she saw a skinny young man with white hair. In his hands he held a wooden staff.

She heard him mutter something to himself before he turned around and saw her inquisitive eyes staring right at him.

His blue eyes widened. He instinctively took a step back, but then stepped closer after a moment of silence.

"You. . ." He stepped closer again, inching his arm upwards until it was pointing at her. He knelt down. "You can see me?"

And then the boy and the forest was suddenly replaced by blackness.

Merida groaned and forced her eyes open. She blinked deliberately, orienting herself to the darkness of her bedroom. She directed her eyes to her windowsill-the stars and the crescent moon hung in the pitch-black sky.

She turned in her bed and planted her head right into her pillow. Ugh, why did she end up waking up in the middle of the night? Especially since she had been woken up from that dream. And it was a pleasant one, too-

No, wait, she thought with a sudden realization.

That hadn't been a dream. That moment was a memory.

Merida detached her face from the pillow and looked up, suddenly alert. She sifted through her memories, and sure enough, there it was, that time when she'd run off from her parents to follow the will-o'-the-wisps. She had ran after them eagerly, and then she had seen that boy. . . He'd said something about her seeing him as though being seen was a rare occurrence.

But as much as she liked to remember this, she wondered something-the will-o'-the-wisps were supposed to lead one to their destiny.

So why had it led her to that white-haired boy?

The question remained in her head as she lowered her head to the pillow and let her eyes drift shut, surrendering to sleep once more.

* * *

The moment she fell asleep was the moment that he landed on the windowsill.

Jack Frost crouched down, digging the end of his staff into the windowsill, and looked inquisitively at the sleeping girl. A long mane of fiery red hair eclipsed her face.

The girl moved. His heart skipping a beat, Jack launched up to his feet, ready to take off into the air at any moment-

She didn't open her eyes.

Jack let himself relax. He narrowed his eyes, studying the girl. With a round, freckled face and that frizzy red hair, she wasn't necessarily the prettiest girl around.

But she was already one of the most memorable.

He turned and took a step forward, letting himself off the windowsill and plummet to the ground. For a moment, it was nothing but the wind howling right into his ears-

Then it was a graceful, if a little unsteady, landing on the ground. Spurred on by the momentum, he took a few uncontrollable steps forward.

"So did you find her?" said an awkward-sounding voice behind him.

Jack turned around and saw Hiccup approaching him, Rapunzel on his heels.

"Yeah." He gave his staff a nonchalant twirl before stabbing it into the ground. "Now it's just a matter of waiting until tomorrow and finding a way to approach her then."

"Are you sure that she's going to help us?" Rapunzel said with a concerned, almost sheepish look.

"I mean, if she's anything like me, she may not exactly take the 'oh hey, you're destined to save the world' thing well," Hiccup said.

"Don't worry," Jack said. He reached out a hand toward them, as if quelling their fears. "We'll find a way."

The Guardian turned away from them and looked up at the Man in the Moon. The silver rays were shining brightly upon them, almost as though assuring the three that they were on the right path.

"We always do."


	2. Day 2: Sweet Nothings

2 - Sweet Nothings

"Excuse me—just coming through—pardon, sir—oops, sorry!"

Merida's run was hindered only when she ran into a woman who'd dropped a basket of cloth upon their impact. She knelt down and collected the streaming rolls of fabric before handing them back to the woman. The woman smiled and gave her a nod of thanks, and then Merida broke out into a run once more.

She knew it wasn't ladylike to run in front of everyone. She had been trying to be a little more ladylike ever since the time where her mum turned into a bear, she really was, but as the King and Queen of DunBroch, her parents were in charge of running the Anniversial Festival, and she had to get to them as soon as possible so she could lend a hand wherever she was needed.

She raced down the paved trail and barely gave heed to the brightly-colored stands and tents. Laughs and advertising and chatter all overlapped each other and flowed into her hears like the water in a stream.

Finally, she spotted both King Fergus and Queen Elinor in a large violet tent. Both of them were surrounded by people, and looked very busy.

Merida crossed into the shade, a welcoming change from the sweltering sun. She squeezed through the swarm of Scots until she reached her mum.

"Mum," she said. "Mum, I'm finally here, is there anything you need me to do?"

Elinor turned around, a startled look splattered across her face before it eased into a smile.

"Ah, Merida," Elinor said. "Thank you for you offer, but—" she swept her gaze around everyone before turning back to Merida and clasping her hands in front of her, "—it seems as though Fergus and I have everything under control."

Merida felt herself deflate despite herself. So she'd ran all this way for nothing? "Oh. Okay. Th-That's good."

"Well look here," Fergus heartily called from a few feet away. "My magnificent wife being graceful under pressure, as always."

Elinor let out a small chuckle. She looked like she was trying her hide her happiness at the compliment.

"And my husband," she said back, "just as strong as ever."

"Oh, I love you."

"And I love you too."

When she was sure that they were too preoccupied, Merida walked away from them. Her face contorted as though she was about to vomit.

"Not one for public displays of affection, are you?"

Merida turned over to the right. Someone was leaning against a table laden with food—

She blinked, properly registering the young man. He looked a little familiar. Strange garments hung on his lean body, his thick white hair reminded her of fresh snow, and his face—oh dear goodness, his _face_. . .

He was more attractive than her past suitors could have ever hoped to be.

She cleared her throat. Not that it mattered, of course. "Not when they're coming from my parents."

"Do they do that often? Say sweet nothings to each other?"

"Do they. . . what do you mean, 'sweet nothings'?" She hadn't heard the term before.

She scanned the boy. Strange clothes, strange terms and manner of speaking, failure as of yet to acknowledge her high-born status. . .

He wasn't from DunBroch.

The boy took his weight off of the table and walked towards her with a staff in hand. He looked at her directly in the eye.

"I love you."

Merida half-jumped like she'd just been shocked. She was unsure of how to react to that, yet her heart was racing all the same.

The boy's smile broadened when he saw her face, but it was not an affectionate one; his eyes were glimmering as though he was trying to hold back a laugh.

Her shock turned into anger. "Very funny," she grumbled.

"'You are magnificent,'" he continued. "'The most beautiful thing ever to grace this earth'. You know, stuff like that. Sweet nothings are basically affectionate but meaningless things that people like your parents say to each other."

Or like you just did to me, Merida thought scathingly.

She crossed her arms and looked away from him. She huffed. "Any other meaningless things that you'd like to say to me?" she said, stabbing her gaze into the ground.

The boy paused. Then she sensed him slowly making his way towards her.

"Well," he said, "what if I told you. . ." he was next to her now, "that I needed your help to save the world?"

She broke out laughing, raising her head to look back up at him. "That's a goo—"

His eyes.

They lacked any humor.

Her smile fell. "You're. . . _not _joking. Bu-But—"

"Jack?"

The white-haired boy instinctively spun around. So his name was Jack.

She looked over to where he was looking and subsequently saw a tall, barefoot blonde young woman dashing towards them. Several eyes followed her as she came to Jack.

"Jack," she said again. "Jack, Hiccup and I found this rea—"

That's when Merida noticed the thick trail of blonde stretching behind the young woman.

"Woah," she said, taking a step back. "Is that all _hair_?"

Both Jack and the young woman looked over to her. The young woman looked confused before something dawned on her face.

"Wait a moment," the blonde said. "Is that. . ."

Jack nodded. "I just found her."

Found her, as in, they'd been searching for her?

As in, they'd been searching for her because Jack really _did_ need her to help them save the world?

Merida shook her head slowly. "This is insane. Tell me, why should I help you?"

"Because," Jack said. "Rapunzel, Hiccup and I aren't the only ones seeking you out. There's also Pitch Black."

"Pi. . . Pi. . . who Black?"

"Pitch Black," the girl, who Merida was guessing was Rapunzel, said.

"Normally the Guardians and I take care of him," he said. "But Pitch isn't just threatening the children anymore. He's planning to spread darkness _everywhere_. Not just in my time—"

"Your _time_?"

"—but in everyone else's too, until the Earth and its history is composed of nothing but darkness, and he will reign absolute. This conflict is now revolving around a larger scale, so we need the best of the best to help defend the world. You're one of them—one of the greatest people to ever have lived in your era."

For once, Merida was speechless. Her, one of the greatest people to ever have lived. That was. . . that was. . . .

Well, that was blasphemy.

She averted their gazes. "You two must have the wrong person, then."

"No, I'm certain that we don't, " Jack said. "I could see it back then, and I see it now."

"'Back then'? What are you—"

She realized why he looked so familiar.

That day, when she was just a little kid—

Merida looked up at Jack. The white hair, round face, lean figure. . . it all matched the boy that she had seen that day.

She didn't realize that she was gaping until she closed her mouth. "But. . . how. . . what were you doing on that day? How was it that you didn't age at all?"

"If you cone with me," Jack held his hand out, "then I'll explain everything."

Merida didn't look at his hand. She just looked straight at his face.

She hated him. She hated the way he seemed so coy. She hated his mischievous, almost devilish aura. And she really hated how he expected her to just go headfirst into this without a word of protest.

But at the same time. . .

There was something about him. She didn't know what it was, exactly, but it made her place a small amount of trust in him despite how much she already loathed him.

It was this trust that moved her to lift her hand and place it into his.


	3. Day 3: Sacrifice

3 - Sacrifice

"So what do you think of her?"

Jack looked over his shoulder to see the two girls trailing behind them. After fulfilling Merida's demands that they get her bow and arrow and then meeting up with Hiccup, the four had finally left town and were now in a nearby forest, heading over to where they had left Toothless.

He observed the two of them. Merida and Rapunzel were talking about something that he couldn't overhear from the distance he was at. Judging by the way the redhead chuckled at something Rapunzel said, she was beginning to warm up to her.

Well, at least that made one person that she could get along with.

"She hates me," Jack said. He turned away from Merida before she could notice.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "I didn't ask about what she thought of you, I asked about what you thought of her."

"She's. . . all right," he decided.

"She's all right," Hiccup repeated in a deadpan manner.

Jack groaned. "Oh, come on! What else do you want me to say?"

"How about something a little more—oh, I don't know—_detailed_ than 'all right'? I for one don't think it's smart to go ahead and confront Pitch with no idea on how to work with Merida. What are her strengths, weaknesses?"

Jack looked up to the sky and twisted his face in thought. "Weaknesses? Unruly. Loud. Impulsive as heck. Stubborn. Blunt. Quick to judge others. Snappish. Reckless. A bit temperamental, and, like I said, she hates me."

Hiccup gulped. "That's pleasant. Any strengths?"

"She's a fantastic archer," he said. "Of course, I haven't seen her skill myself, but both she and the Man in the Moon have testified of it."

"So she's a fighter. That's good—we do need a little more force on our side. Anything else?"

"She seems free-spirited. She gets right to the point, and she isn't afraid to stand up for herself. Rather plucky, if you ask me. She's got her flaws, but I can see her being a good asset to the team."

"Good. We'll need all of the assets we can get."

Jack and Hiccup stepped through the trees and pushed up some branches that were dangling in their faces, allowing them to step into a vast clearing. There laid a large, black-scaled dragon at least twice Jack's size.

Hiccup grinned. "Toothless."

The dragon lifted his head and his ears shot upward. Toothless stood as the lanky brown-haired boy crossed over to him and laid a hand on his head. "How's it going, bud?"

Jack stepped to the side when he heard footsteps drawing closer. The same branches rose again, and subsequently Rapunzel and Merida entered—

"Woah! Dragon!" Merida practically jumped backwards and within moments had her bow and arrow drawn and aimed at Toothless.

Toothless snarled at Merida and drew back like he was going to pounce on her. Merida's shouting did nothing to help. Rapunzel and Hiccup darted over to Merida and Toothless respectively in an attempt to calm them down—

Jack slammed his staff into the ground.

The chaos gradually ceased as all eyes turned to him.

"All of you, settle down," he said.

"Settle down?" Merida said. "But there's a _dragon_ over there!"

Toothless hissed at her.

"Yeah, it's a dragon," Hiccup said. "But it's a nice, friendly one—or at least, he is when there aren't any arrow being pointed at him."

Merida bit her lip. Then she sighed and lowered her weapon.

"All right," Jack said as he finally began to loosen up. "Now that that's over, we've got business to take care of."

"And by business you mean we've got to find out what exactly Pitch is up to?" Rapunzel said.

He nodded. "We've got to find out what exactly he's planning to do to achieve his ends."

He began pacing. "We know that he was after Hiccup's book of dragons one time, and Rapunzel's crown the other. And when he got them, I swear, he couldn't have been more pleased with himself. But the question is, _why_? Why was he after those two things in particular?"

"The why doesn't matter right now," Rapunzel said. "What does matter is that it can't be anything good, so we need to get them back."

"Right, right," Jack said.

He dug into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a small but intricately designed silver hourglass. The hourglass looked like nothing more than a fancy object at first sight, but in actuality the Man in the Moon had bestowed it with magical properties. It could be used to go either forward or backward in time, and that was what had allowed him to find his new three companions.

"Now, we don't know which time period Pitch is currently in," he said. "But thanks to the Man in the Moon—"

"Wait," Merida said. "What do you mean, 'the Man in the Moon'?"

"I—"

"So there's a man physically _inside_ the moon?"

Hiccup snorted. Jack shot him a glare.

He then turned to Merida. "No, there isn't a man _inside_ the moon—"

"So what Frosty, do you worship the moon itself?"

"_No_! I do not—wait, 'Frosty'?"

"Yes, _Frosty_. Do you have a problem with it?"

Jack stepped closer to his. "Kind of, yeah!"

"Well, deal with it!"

Their faces were only inches apart from each other.

"How would you like it if I started referring to you by a mocking nickname, _Ginger_?"

In the meantime, Hiccup whistled slowly. "Are you sure you two aren't an old married couple?"

Merida whirled around to face Hiccup, bristling while Rapunzel just laughed at the whole exchange. "_Excuse_ me?"

Jack shook. Then he pointed his staff at one of the treetops and shot a bolt of ice at it. The leaves turned into ice before exploding into millions of tiny little shards.

Merida fell quiet, her eyes widening.

He took a deep breath. "As I was saying," he said, taking advantage of the redhead's silence, "thanks to the Man in the Moon, we can travel through time and find out where exactly Pitch is hiding."

"Oh, but do you have to?"

An icy chill crept down Jack's spine.

The air seemed to chill him to the very bone. He held his staff out in front of him. He could see Rapunzel gathering her hair and preparing it for battle, and Hiccup mounting himself upon Toothless. Merida followed their leads and raised her bow and arrow. She turned all around, seeking something to aim at but coming up with nothing.

A laugh sounded in the air. It was much too close for comfort.

"Why," said the dark and cold voice, "I hail from the shadows."

Sure enough, out of a tree's thick shadow strode a tall, gray-skinned man wearing a long black robe. His eyes looked down on them predatorily.

"And shadows and darkness follow you wherever they go, do they not?"

Jack's grip became dangerously white. "Pitch."

"I really don't think it's a good idea to mess with us," Hiccup said coldly.

"Tell us now, what have you done with our items?" Rapunzel's green eyes were no wider than paper-thin slits.

Pitch just laughed. "You haven't already figured it out?"

"So you're Pitch Black?"

Pitch diverted his attention from Rapunzel to Merida, who had an arrow aimed straight at his heart.

Understanding dawned in his eyes. "Ah, the fourth member has been found. You must feel so powerful now. How quaint."

"What is it that you want?" said Merida.

"Merida of DunBroch," he said. "Adventurous, bold, daring, and very much . . . _unafraid_."

"Are you suggesting that I _should_ be afraid of you?"

"Oh, heavens, no," he said. "I certainly hope not. Fighting you would be so much more boring if you were. But, as I've told your dear friends, everyone is afraid of something."

Pitch took a single step towards Merida. Then another, and then another, until he had begun circling her.

"I know everyone's fears, including yours," he continued. "You're afraid of being controlled. You wish to live your life exactly as you please, and the thought of someone else determining your life sends terror racing down your veins."

"Pitch," Jack warned.

But he ignored the Guardian. "You are afraid of a predetermined destiny—an inability to change your fate."

Her face had begun to pale visibly.

Jack took a step closer. "Pitch, stop it. Don't you dare say another word."

As annoying as she'd been, the thought of Merida being hurt or as afraid as this made him want to attack Pitch with every fiber of his being.

"Oh, and what's this?" he said. "There's more . . . you're afraid of hurting others, ever since a little incident—you're especially afraid of harm coming to your precious mother, aren't you?"

Something inside her seemed to awaken. She let out a cry and sent an arrow flying at Pitch only for it to be deflected by a wall of thick black sand.

Pitch took a few steps back as more black sand materialized at his side Bit by bit, it compressed and stretched and thickened until there was a legion of dark horses at his side.

Fearlings.

They were nothing new to Jack, but Merida looked visibly uncomfortable before her expression hardened.

"Boo," Pitch said.

Then each of the fearlings whinnied and galloped toward their four targets.

Jack jumped, flew at the fearlings head-on, and before logn had swiped his staff cleanly through two fearlings' necks effectively dissolving them.

He looked all around. Rapunzel was whipping her hair at the fearlings, Hiccup and Toothless had taken to the air and were shooting fireballs at them, and Merida was effectively holding her own by shooting arrows dead into the eyes of fearlings.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "You _are_ good," he said, impressed.

He turned around and saw three new fearlings coming at him—

He pointed his staff at one of them and subsequently a shot of ice pelted from the staff and at the fearling. He swept his staff through the next two, ignoring the other fearlings and coming closer to Pitch—

Pitch faced him just in time to block a shot of ice with black sand. They exchanged a series of blows, Jack with his ice and Pitch with his black sand, until Pitch hit jack squarely in the chest, causing him to drop his staff and sending him flying across the clearing.

Pain shot up Jack's back upon the impact. He laid there for an elongated moment. Then he gritted his teeth and got up.

His eyes fell upon his staff, sprawled on the ground several feet away.

He stepped towards it before he saw a fearling out of the corner of his eye—

A fearling that was standing on its two hind legs, about to land a damgaging blow on an unsuspecting Merida—

Jack dashed towards her and slammed his body into hers just as the fearling's hooves touched the ground.

Merida stood up and stared at Jack with wide eyes. "What—"

"I saved your life, now turn around and shoot that thing!"

Merida turned around and sent an arrow flying at the fearling. In turn, it dissolved into black sand that sank to the ground.

Jack stood up. "Are you all right?"

"For someone that was almost killed by a weird dark horse? Not terrible."

"Good, good."

He looked around. From the looks of it, all of the fearlings had been defeated, and Hiccup and Toothless landed on the ground once more.

He looked over to where he'd last seen his staff—

It wasn't there.

His blood turned to ice. "Where's my—"

"Staff?"

Jack spun on his feet to see a smug Pitch holding his staff.

He gritted his teeth. "Give that back now."

"No."

With that, Pitch stepped backwards, slowly retreating back into the shadows—

Jack began running after his staff, but he knew that there was no way he was going to get to him in time. Pitch was almost in the shadows again and once he was he would be gone—

A chorus of "No!"'s sounded in the air.

That's when Jack noticed both Hiccup and Rapunzel sprinting towards Pitch.

He was within the shadows' fold—

But both Rapunzel and Hiccup had managed to wrap their hands around the staff—

And too late did Jack realize what was about to happen.

"Hiccup! Rapunzel! Don't—"

Then Pitch vanished into the shadows with his staff.

And so did Rapunzel and Hiccup.

Jack froze. The very world around him seemed to come to a stop. All he could do was replay those last few moments in his head over and over, like he was trying to find something he'd missed, something that would allow him to believe that neither of them were now in Pitch's hands—

But they were.

"No. . ." his voice was barely louder than a whisper.

"Wh-What just happened?" Merida said once the silence was broken.

"Rapunzel and Hiccup—" Jack gulped. "They're in Pitch's grasp. They went after my staff and now they're in Pitch's grasp."

"So let's go after them. I mean, you have incredible ice powers, surely you—"

"Don't you see?" Jack whirled around to face her. "The staff is the conduit of my powers. Pitch knocked it out of my hands and I was about to go get it, but then I saw that fearling ready to kill you and now Pitch has it."

There was a look of awe on Merida's face. "You. . . sacrificed your powers so you could save me?" Her voice was low, almost timid.

Jack opened his mouth only to close it. He took Merida in—her vivid hair, her long blue dress, the way she seemed so comfortable holding that bow.

"Yeah," he finally said. "I guess I did."


	4. Day 4: Optimism

4 - Optimism

Merida was at a loss for what to do.

If what Jack had told her was anything to go by, then she was supposed to help save the world, but how was she supposed to do that when she had no idea of what to even do? She didn't know where Pitch could have possibly gone with Rapunzel and Hiccup, and if he had really taken them to a different time. . .

Well, she had absolutely no idea how to travel through time.

But Jack did.

She turned to look at the white-haired boy, who was sitting on the ground limply. He'd been quiet ever since the incident.

Merida felt herself deflate in sympathy. She really hadn't liked him at first, and he still wasn't exactly the greatest person she'd ever met. But he was more than mischievous and cocky. There was a different side to him that she'd seen-one that showed that he stepped up to being a leader, and brave and self-sacrificing.

He didn't deserve to be like this.

She took a deep breath and ventured closer to him. "Hey."

He didn't respond. He didn't look at her, either.

She didn't move, embraced by the still air. What was she supposed to say? Was there anything that she could say?

There definitely had to be something that she could say.

"We'll get them back," Merida said. "I mean, we're supposed to save the world, right? So obviously we can do it. We just have to remain optimistic."

Finally Jack moved. He turned his head to look at her. "Optimistic?"

"Yes, optimistic," she said eagerly. Now that she had him, she couldn't afford to lose him. "It always helps to be optimistic."

"It helps to be a realist," Jack snapped.

"I don't think you're being a realist, I think you're being a pessimist," she stated. "And optimism is, in fact, better than pessimism. Because what's the point of being chosen to save the world or something if we don't even believe that we can do it? And, if we don't believe that we can do it. . ."

Merida looked down and gulped. "Then Pitch has already won."

She felt Jack's eyes bore into her head. He was once again silent, thoroughly mulling over her words.

Suddenly he moved and yanked an object out of the pocket of his strange blue shirt. The hourglass that he'd shown her.

"I think I know where to go," he said. His voice got brighter as he went on. "We can still travel through time, and I know an entrance to Pitch's lair, and-"

"And we can get Hiccup and Rapunzel back," Merida finished. "He may be Pitch Black, but we're easily some of the most powerful people in history. We're the ones who are best qualified for this job, we _can_ do this job, and we can do it excellently."

"No."

Before she could ask what he meant by that, Jack climbed to his feet, his back erect and his head high.

"We _will_ do this job."

Merida's lips broke out into a smile as she felt a surge of pride for both her and Jack.

She'd done it-she'd instilled optimism in Jack, and now this optimism had become a certainty for him. And a certain optimism was one of the most powerful forces in the world.

She stood up after him. "Oh, Jack?"

He turned around and looked at her inquiringly.

She prepared to say something, but no words could come out. All that there was was a certain blinding radiance that seemed to surge in her chest whenever she thought of Jack.

"I. . ." she wanted to say something, but her tongue felt thick.

So just she took a deep breath. "Let's do this."


End file.
